March 27, 2014 5:40pm EDTMarch 24, 2014 11:34am EDTsponsor:hyattExecution and winning are getting downright commonplace for the defending National League champion St. Louis Cardinals. Expect more of the same from Yadier Molina & Co. in 2014.Yadier Molina, Trevor Rosenthal(AP Photo)

Joe Strauss, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Published on Mar. 24, 2014 | Updated on Mar. 27, 2014

Mar. 24, 2014

This is the latest of our 30 team previews, which will run through March 30.

After reaching their third consecutive National League Championship Series and reaching Game 6 of the World Series before succumbing to the Boston Red Sox, the Cardinals appear to have formally separated themselves from the National League Central pack. Consider: They follow a 97-win regular season with lower payroll, more depth and even greater expectations than what accompanied them to their first division title since 2009.

The Cardinals love to talk about their player development system. And why not? It threatens to place two rookies in starting positions — second baseman Kolten Wong and right fielder Oscar Taveras — after Shelby Miller won 15 games in 2013 to place third in NL Rookie of the Year balloting. The Cardinals got an industry-most 36 wins from rookie arms, including closer Trevor Rosenthal and October sensation Michael Wacha. The organization’s first-round selection in the ’12 draft, Wacha came within an out of including a no-hitter among his 64.2 regular-season innings before winning four of five postseason starts.

It didn’t matter that the NL Central produced three playoff teams. The Cardinals more than made up the previous season’s nine-game deficit against the Cincinnati Reds by leading the NL in wins, then survived a Division Series scare before dismissing the Pittsburgh Pirates in five games.

The Cardinals captured the 2011 World Series in Tony La Russa’s farewell season as manager. They’ve since played 31 postseason games, giving third-year manager Mike Matheny more career playoff experience than any current NL manager other than the San Francisco Giants’ Bruce Bochy.

Where most teams have glaring needs, the Cardinals have redundancies. They enter spring training with seven candidates for the starting rotation even though Chris Carpenter has retired and the club did not assume veteran Jake Westbrook’s option. National League innings leader and Cy Young award runner-up Adam Wainwright is the anchor for a rotation that projects Wacha, Miller, lefthander Jaime Garcia and Lance Lynn, who may well rank as the No. 5 starter after winning 33 games the last two seasons. Joe Kelly (10-5, 2.69 ERA) and coveted rookie Carlos Martinez loom should anyone stumble.

A bullpen that began the last several seasons as a huge question mark this year flexes its strength. Jason Motte led the NL in saves in 2012 but returns from ligament-replacement surgery to a set-up role. Rosenthal averaged 12.9 strikeouts per nine innings. Martinez, a starter for most teams, may find himself pitching the seventh inning here. Sinker specialist Seth Maness should also return.

Lefthander Randy Choate is the team’s only 30-something reliever. Kevin Siegrist could challenge Rosenthal as the team’s most dominant reliever after striking out 50 of 152 hitters faced while constructing a 0.45 ERA in 45 appearances.

As for their lineup, the Cardinals boast Gold Glove catcher Yadier Molina, who finished third in balloting for NL MVP while narrowly finishing second on the team in Wins Above Replacement (WAR) rating. The game’s best defensive catcher, Molina hit .319 with an .836 OPS despite seeing his second-half numbers atrophy due to a nagging knee issue. He is one of four .300 hitters who return to a lineup that led the league by 77 runs scored.

If the rest of the division has hope, it’s tied to the Cardinals’ record-setting success with runners in scoring position last season. They hit .330 in such spots, best all-time since the stat has been kept. That ability offset a relatively paltry 125 home runs that beat only San Francisco and Miami. The club sought to upgrade itself within the infield, knowing that it can’t duplicate its RISP stats. Matt Carpenter successfully converted from a utility role to every-day second baseman and led the league with 199 hits, 55 doubles and 126 runs. His .873 OPS was doubly impressive as the team’s leadoff hitter. Carpenter is expected to move this year to his original position, third base, as Wong and free-agent signee Mark Ellis split time at second base. Ellis’ signing for $5.25 million suggests more than a platoon role, however.

General manager John Mozeliak convinced ownership to sign free-agent shortstop Jhonny Peralta to a four-year deal despite Peralta absorbing a 50-game suspension for his involvement in MLB’s Biogenesis scandal. Peralta is considered average defensively but his bat is live enough to offer stability at a position that has seen seven different regulars the last seven years. Clinical enough to discard players who have added to their lore, the Cardinals traded third baseman David Freese for Los Angeles Angels center fielder Peter Bourjos, a gifted defensive player held back by injuries for much of his career. Bourjos offers a dose of speed and likely leaves Jon Jay, a starter on two World Series teams, in a reserve role.

The Cardinals enjoy the envious dilemma of potentially having three players — Allen Craig, Matt Adams and Taveras — to fill first base and right field. Adams is exclusively a first baseman and produced 17 home runs, 51 RBIs and an .839 OPS in 296 at-bats last season. Craig, who batted .454 with runners in scoring position, can move between the two positions. He also led the league in RBIs before suffering a foot injury that sidelined him in September. He still led the team with 97 RBIs.

Taveras is widely considered the game’s most gifted hitting prospect. His arrival was delayed last season by a recurring ankle problem that eventually necessitated season-ending surgery. For the Cardinals he is an option, which says everything about the leverage this franchise possesses.

Projected lineup

C: Yadier Molina

1B: Matt Adams

2B: Kolten Wong

SS: Jhonny Peralta

3B: Matt Carpenter

LF: Matt Holliday

CF: Peter Bourjos

RF: Allen Craig

Rotation

RHP Adam Wainwright

RHP Michael Wacha

RHP Shelby Miller

LHP Jaime Garcia

RHP Lance Lynn

Closer

Trevor Rosenthal

View from the other dugout

A scout's take on the Cardinals:

“They’re the most complete team in the league, in my opinion. They roll out power arms in the rotation and from both sides of the bullpen. They have the game’s best defensive catcher and play calm in big situations. If you’re ahead of them, you’re expecting something to happen. How many teams have one rookie pitcher (Shelby Miller) retire 27 consecutive hitters in the season’s first half and have another rookie (Wacha) come within one out of throwing a no-hitter in the second half? If there’s hope for the rest of their division, it’s that they can’t be as effective with runners in scoring position. They have some guys like Craig and Adams who seem like injury risks. Their defense wasn’t good last year and getting Jhonny Peralta may add a defensive question at short, where they were actually above average. Signing Peralta and picking up Mark Ellis will help them against lefthanded pitching. Bourjos at least gives them a chance in the outfield because there’s little range in left and right. ... ”

Scout's view

A scout's take on 3B Matt Carpenter:

“It’s difficult to think of a player in either league who made more adjustments last year than Carpenter. To move from corner infield to second base during spring training then adapt to batting leadoff in midseason demonstrates the level of this guy’s mental toughness. For a guy with relatively little major league service time, Carpenter is a very mature hitter. He rarely chases. To the contrary, he is secure enough with his strike zone that he’ll lay off a two-strike pitch that much more veteran players might chase. He’s very comfortable working in deep counts. Carpenter anticipates well and was better at turning the double play than anyone had a right to expect. If he once had issues with his backhand they are no longer obvious.”

Impact newcomer

The NL Central’s most active team this winter, the Cardinals addressed their exposure to lefthanded pitching and their lack of offense at the shortstop position by signing Jhonny Peralta for four years. The contract’s structure suggests the club projects him at another position — or with another team — after 2015. For now, he’s a big upgrade.

Key stat

How significant were the Cardinals’ young arms in 2013? Rookie pitchers accounted for 36 of the team’s 97 wins while contributing 531.1 of the NL champs’ 1,459.2 regular-season innings pitched, or 36.4 percent. The group struck out 586 and produced a 2.95 ERA.

Bottom line

Expect more of the same in St. Louis under Matheny — at least 90 wins and a fourth consecutive trip to the postseason.

This content originally appeared in the Sporting News 2014 Baseball Yearbook. To order a copy, click here.